The new leaders of the Chinese Communist Party may have moved into office, but so far their new policies have not. Yet if these men at the top—led by party General Secretary Xi Jinping—are to resolve a daunting array of problems at home and abroad, they must move quickly to prevent bad situations from growing […]
With 2012 coming to an end, here are some of the larger trends to watch in Chinese cybersecurity in the upcoming year. There are rumors that there will be another round of bureaucratic reforms in the spring. Chinese analysts have pointed out that one of the great weaknesses in their defenses is that institutional oversight of […]
Hu Chunhua, the second-youngest member of the Communist Party’s new Politburo, was appointed party boss of Guangdong, the southern manufacturing hub that has China’s biggest provincial economy. Hu, 49, replaces Wang Yang, a fellow Politburo member whose new post hasn’t been announced, the Xinhua News Agency said yesterday. Wang appeared publicly earlier this month when […]
A question about historical precedents for China’s rise landed in my reader mailbag last week. “What,” my correspondent asked, “is the better optic for looking at China today — Bismarckian/Wilhelmine Germany, or post-Meiji Japan? Or both?” Both! Forced to choose, though, I think Imperial Germany supplies more useful indices for plotting China’s trajectory. Someone should really […]
As 2012 draws to a close, two imminent issues hang over the world economy. The better known one is the so called fiscal cliff, which could result in simultaneous reductions in government spending and increases in taxes in the United States. The second lesser reported issue is the ongoing clash between the U.S. Securities & […]
Most of us still look at China, the world’s second-largest economy, as the undisputed leader among major developing countries. In the long run, however, I’m betting on India to emerge as the more significant global economy. Those who are dazzled by China often forget that much of the rapid growth before 2008 was caused by the shift of […]
China said it will seek a higher “quality and efficiency” of growth next year, signaling new leaders may accept a reduced pace of expansion in exchange for a more sustainable model. There was no mention of seeking “relatively fast” growth, a policy in place since 2006, in a report yesterday by the state-run Xinhua News […]
Washington‘s aggressive pursuit of containment of China and Beijing’s difficulty in launching major economic and political reforms will likely prove an explosive mixture. Meanwhile, Japan, India, and other Asian powers exploit the logic of “two ovens”. The 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was to be the springboard for economic and political renewal in […]
One of the elementary rules of foreign policy is when you are in a hole, stop digging. But judging by their recent behavior, Beijing’s foreign policy mandarins and national security establishment are clearly in violation of this rule. Despite the diplomat heat China has received for its tough stance on territorial disputes in recent months, […]
China stressed its adherence to peaceful development in response to a U.S. intelligence report predicting that China will surpass the United States to become the world’s largest economy before 2030. “China will unswervingly pursue a way of peaceful development. China’s development aims at making greater contributions toward peace and development of mankind, as well as […]
looking beyond borders 